1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing apparatus and more particularly, to apparatus which will automatically set a fish hook in response to a fish striking the fishing hook and concurrently signal a fish being caught.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objects
Fishermen have heretofore utilized a variety of tip up devices for catching fish while the fishing apparatus is unattended and signaling a fish being caught. Such devices are illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,243, issued to George R. Wold, Jr., on Nov. 17, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,154 issued to Paul F. Grahl, on Aug. 25, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,850, issued to Lawrence J. Gonnello, on Sept. 12, 1995; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,269 issued to David M. Eppley on Nov. 26, 1991.
Sometimes, a fish will strike the bait with sufficient force to trigger the tip up but without sufficient force to impale itself on the hook. The game fish will sometimes "mouth the bait" and/or carry the bait without striking the bait with sufficient force to impale itself upon the fishing hook. If, in such instance, a fisherman was manually holding the fishing pole at the time of the strike, the fisherman would suddenly jerk the pole and line in a direction away from the fish, thereby causing the hook to penetrate and hook the fish.
With the unattended tip up apparatus utilized heretofore, there is no device for setting the hook. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide tip up fishing apparatus including mechanism for setting a fish hook.
It is another object of the present invention to provide mechanism for setting the hook on an unattended fishing pole and for signaling a setting of the hook as the hook is being set.
It is another object of the present invention to provide fishing apparatus which is responsive to tension force being applied to a hook mounting fishing line for causing the fishing pole and line thereon to suddenly jerk to set the hook.
It is another object of the present invention to also provide mechanism for pivotally mounting a fishing pole and mechanism for swinging the pole in response to tension force being applied to a fishing line.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide fishing apparatus of the type described including a swingably mounted fishing pole holding mechanism and mechanism for moving the pole holding mechanism to set a hook when a fish strikes a fishing line supported by the fishing pole.
It is a further object of the present invention is to provide fishing apparatus of the type described including signaling mechanism operable in response to movement of the pole moving mechanism, to signal a fish being caught.
It is another object of the present invention to provide fish hook setting mechanism of the type described which is responsive to a fish hook mounting line being payed out in one direction for moving the suddenly bodily moving the line in an opposite direction to set the hook mounted on the line.
Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus of the type described including signaling mechanism responsive to tension force being applied to the fish line by a fish strike to signal the strike.
It is another object of the present invention to provide fishing apparatus of the type described including a flexible signal member having a free terminal flag end and trigger mechanism for receiving the fishing line and detachably holding the terminal flag end but releasing the terminal flag end in response to tension force being applied to the line when a fish strikes the line.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.